In a typical printing process, a print job is sent by a computer to a buffer that is accessible to a printer. The printer retrieves the print job from the buffer, prints the print job, and deletes or releases the print job. Once printed, access to the print job is destroyed and a user must re-send the print job to create additional copies of the print job. Re-printing usually involves the retrieval of the print job by a user with the same computer, or with a computer having access to the location of the stored print job. Additionally, such print jobs are not typically stored in a printable format. Instead, the item to be printed is stored in a format that is readable by the software program that created the print job. Print driver software associated with the specific software program converts the print job to a printer readable format before sending the print job to a buffer. Thus, if the software program that created the print job is not available, it is often difficult to reproduce the print job.
In large enterprise systems where multiple software platforms may be used, the compatibility of files between machines and software programs is often hindered because each printer-enabled device does not necessarily have the desired software programs needed for printing each print job. Furthermore, print queues become crowded, and print jobs may take longer to print because of the backlog in the print queues. In addition, repetitive print jobs, such as forms that are used on a daily basis, regularly printed reports, or other static documents must be uploaded to the print queues each time that they must be printed. This may be a time consuming event and undesirable in certain situations.
A system for storing print jobs or other printable data in a memory accessible to a printer would be desirable if the print jobs or data could be easily recalled. Furthermore, the ability to send print jobs via e-mail from an e-mail enabled printer to another e-mail enabled device could help save time involved in the printing and distribution of print jobs or printable data.